“Kawhi Leonard Is The Absolute Worst Superstar”: Missing His $39,344,900 Season, Clippers Star’s Unavailability Irks Stephen A Smith

The Los Angeles Clippers shocked the entire basketball community when they added Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to their roster in 2019. Having a team led by the two-way All-Star duo of Leonard and George got fans excited and instantly boosted the Clippers shot at winning the title. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Western Conference “powerhouse” failed to live up to the expectations set on them. Lingering injuries seemed to have left the team shattered. Leonard was the one who suffered the most. There hasn’t been a single season where he’s played for than 57 games. The Claw also missed the entirety of the 2021-2022 season, when he earned $39,344,900. Recently, ahead of the 2023-24 season, Stephen A. Smith expressed his disappointment with a passionate rant, calling the forward “the worst superstar” on ‘The Stephen A. Smith Show’.

Ever since the 2017 postseason, Kawhi Leonard has been suffering with some or the other major injury. During his stint with the California side, the 6ft 7” megastar partially tore his ACL and also sustained a torn right meniscus. Due to these horrific injuries, Kawhi has only suited up for 180 out of a total of 367 potential games during his time with the Clippers (regular season, play-in, and postseason included).

Stephen A. Smith believes that Kawhi Leonard is “the worst superstar”

During the Media Day ahead of the 2023-2024 campaign, Kawhi Leonard revealed that the league’s newest policy on load management wouldn’t have any effect on his plans. As Leonard said, “No league policy is helping me to play more games.”

Stephen A. Smith was fuming after hearing the five-time All-Star’s comments on the new rules. After lauding Leonard for being a solid two-way player, the ESPN analyst put emphasis on how he had missed 48% of the regular season games since the 2019-2020 season. He said the following on the Stephen A. Smith show.

“I’m dead serious when I say this, Kawhi Leonard is the absolute worst superstar that a team can have… He is a superstar. A Champion, a two-time Champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP… Any team that has him, healthy, is a bonafide Championship contender. If Kawhi Leonard was healthy and could stay healthy, the Clippers could win it all.

He’s also missed 48% of his games since he has arrived in Los Angeles. He’s missed 147 out 308 games, that’s 48% of his regular season games. 48%!”

The 55-year-old then ripped the two-time Defensive Player of the Year for not bringing any value to his team or the sport. SAS just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the 32-year-old was the 35^th highest-paid athlete in the world.

“You know that kids are actually speaking (in New Balance’s commercial) and not Kawhi Leonard. He can’t even talk for his own damn endorsement deals. He does absolutely nothing to market the sport. I’m talking business. He’s an elite defender, he’s an elite scorer… But he does nothing to market the sport. So if you’re missing 48% of your games and you’re doing nothing in that time to help market your team or market the sport, how are you worth the money?”

Admittedly, Smith is justified in being frustrated at Leonard. It’s almost a shame that a team as stacked as the Clippers has not even advanced to the NBA Finals even once.

“The Clippers should force Kawhi to retire”: SAS

Stephen A. has often spoken about his admiration for Kawhi. However, lately, Smith has changed a change of heart when talking about the superstar. A few months before this passionate rant, the frustrated analyst outrageously claimed the Clippers franchise should force Leonard to retire.

“Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers should force Kawhi Leonard to retire,” Smith said “I’m done. He needs to go home. It’s over.”

This seemed a bit too harsh.

The Clippers are entering the 2023-2024 campaign in a healthy shape. If they manage to keep the injuries in check, there is no doubt that they could make a legitimate attempt to lift the 2024 Championship trophy.